Drum Corps International will kick off its 114-event summer tour in June, an annual series that will be highlighted by a long-awaited return to the Sunshine State as momentum builds toward the biggest show in marching music—the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis.
During the run of the 52-day summer season, the 44th annual DCI Tour will showcase more than 60 drum corps at events in 39 states.
“The outstanding student musicians and performers taking part in the remarkable organizations which comprise Drum Corps International will undoubtedly set new standards this summer,” DCI Executive Director Dan Acheson said. “We’re looking forward to showcasing their talents in competitive events at tour stops throughout the United States.”
Season-Opening Events
A new tradition of the DCI Tour schedule in recent years, 2016’s competitive events will get their start in the same location they’ll end in August at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. On Thursday, June 23, the Bluecoats, Boston Crusaders, Carolina Crown, Phantom Regiment, Cadets and Cavaliers will help get the season underway during this premiere event that will also be broadcast live in movies theaters across the country.
Just a day later, events get underway on the West Coast with a high-powered lineup of corps heading to Fresno before meeting at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, June 25, for the annual DCI West showdown.
Lineups for this year’s California series of events will include the Madison Scouts, who will make the trek west for the first time in nearly a decade.
“Having the Madison Scouts tour the West Coast will add an invigorating dynamic to all of our Pacific events,” Santa Clara Vanguard CEO Jeff Fiedler said. “We’re all looking forward to immersing their members in our West Coast experience.”
Also accenting this year’s Pacific series of events will be a return to Rose Bowl Stadium on July 2, which hosted the DCI World Championships in 2007.
Premier Events
Anchoring the DCI Tour schedule in some of the biggest and most popular venues of the summer will be Drum Corps International’s Premier Event series.
Among the highlights of this year’s schedule will be three events coming to Florida in July.
Annually the state of Florida produces more drum corps members than any location other than Texas and California. The state is also rich in drum corps history, hosting the DCI World Championships four times in Orlando (1996-1998, 2003) and once in Miami (1983). The DCI Tour last came to the Sunshine State in 2012.
This year’s events will take place in soon-to-be-announced locations in the northern, central and southern parts of the state between July 9 and 12.
The Florida events will shake up this year’s mid-July scheduling, as those corps make their way back north with a stop in Kentucky on Saturday, July 16, while another huge lineup of corps heads to Minnesota on the same day.
The following week, DCI’s southwestern series of events gets underway in Texas with simultaneous competitions in Belton and Denton on Thursday, July 21.
A stop in Houston the next day will lead up to the DCI Southwestern Championship in San Antonio on Saturday, July 23. The Cadets will surely be looking for a repeat performance from 2015, when they became the first corps other than the Blue Devils or Cavaliers to win at the Alamodome.
After a final Texas showdown in Dallas on July 25, most corps will head east with stops in Little Rock, Arkansas and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in addition to a brand new event in Birmingham, Alabama.
In lieu of Middle Tennessee State University, the annual Masters of the Summer Music Games heads to Vanderbilt University in downtown Nashville, which last hosted in 2014.
That popular Nashville tour stop sets things up for a return to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday, July 30. With a record crowd attending the event in 2015, and with a new multipurpose football stadium expected to open next door in 2017, this may be the last year that drum corps perform for tens of thousands of fans under the roof of the 23-year-old facility.
The last weekend of the regular season will showcase World Class corps at venerable J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania, split over two days of competition on Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6. This year will mark the historic 40th anniversary of “DCI East” events.
Buy tickets to both nights of the 2016 DCI Eastern Classic.
Serving as waypoints between the Premier Events will be the bulk of the 2015 DCI Tour schedule. Sanctioned events in cities across the country create the additional performance opportunities necessary for DCI’s corps to travel safely and efficiently from one competition to the next.
"We are ever-grateful to our national network of Tour Event Partners as they continue to work diligently season-after-season to produce, promote and manage the events which create the opportunities for the corps to perform before audiences in communities from coast to coast," DCI Director of Events Susan Kuehnhold said.
World Championship Events
Open Class corps will once again kick off World Championships Week in Michigan City, Indiana, from the intimate confines of Ames Field on Monday, August 8. The preliminary competition will pare down the lineup to the top-12 advancing corps who will vie for the title of Open Class World Champion on Tuesday, August 9.
This year’s events in Michigan City will welcome several new faces including the Louisiana Stars from Lafayette and Houston, Texas’ Guardians. While these corps have taken part in the DCI Tour in recent years, it will be their first time attending the Championships.
The action heads south to downtown Indianapolis beginning Wednesday, August 10, when the DCI Performers Showcase presented by System Blue features individuals and ensembles outdoors on Georgia Street as well as the iconic Indianapolis Artsgarden and the Pavillion on Pan Am, a brand new performance venue renovated from an ice rink.
Open and World Class corps will compete head to head as the action moves into Lucas Oil Stadium for the Prelims competition on Thursday, August 11.
2016 will be the eighth straight year that drum corps have wrapped up their season in Indianapolis, and history will be made as Lucas Oil Stadium becomes the most-visited venue in the 45-year history of the DCI World Championships, breaking a long-held record by Madison, Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium.
The top 25 corps will advance to the Semifinals on Friday, August 12, with the top 12 vying for the title of World Champion on Saturday evening.
SoundSport™ and DrumLine Battle® Events
Complementing a number of high-profile DCI Tour events will be Drum Corps International’s SoundSport and DrumLine Battle. The wildly popular competitive musical showcases provide a stage for an exciting array of performance ensembles of many sorts, along with traditional upstart and reemerging drum corps, as well as local, independent and international groups.
In addition to a series of ongoing events produced around the world, highlights of this summer's North American schedule will be stops in the Orlando area on July 9, San Antonio on July 23, and Atlanta on July 30, before one of the biggest events of the year during World Championships Week in Indianapolis on Saturday, August 13.
“We're also in the process of finalizing an additional competition in California and in the Midwestern U.S. to complement this summer’s events,” SoundSport and DrumLine Battle Events Manager Eric Hjellming said.
View the developing 2016 SoundSport schedule of events.
How You Can Experience the 2016 DCI Tour
Starting Monday, December 7, tickets to more than 30 of the most popular events of the 2016 DCI Tour will go on sale through the DCI Box Office and Ticketmaster. Events will include the DCI Southeastern Championship at the Georgia Dome, events Texas, and single-night tickets to the 2016 DCI World Championships in Indianapolis, among many others.
Sign up for Drum Corps International’s "Box Office Alerts" to receive e-mail notification when tickets to 2016 events near you will be going on sale throughout the winter months.
View the complete schedule of 2016 Drum Corps International Tour events.
Premier Events
Indianapolis, IN
Lucas Oil Stadium
Thursday, June 23
Highlights: The kickoff event of the 2016 DCI Tour that will also be broadcast live in movie theaters across the country.
Stanford, CA
Stanford University
Saturday, June 25
Highlights: The Madison Scouts travel west to join this lineup of Pacific powerhouses.
Oxnard, CA NEW EVENT
Oxnard High School
Wednesday, June 29
Highlights: A brand new event on the coast of Southern California will feature an intimate lineup of top World Class corps with plenty of surprises in store for the audience.
Muncie, IN
Ball State University
Friday, July 1
Highlights: Carolina Crown serves as drum corps in residence in the days leading up to this event that concludes the Music For All Summer Symposium, a camp for high school musicians.
Foxboro, MA
Gillette Stadium
Saturday, July 2
Highlights: After a return to Foxboro for the first time in a decade last summer, the East Coast Classic is set to return to the home of the New England Patriots in 2016.
Pasadena, CA
Rose Bowl Stadium
Saturday, July 2
Highlights: Familiar to drum corps and fans as the site of the 2007 DCI World Championships, the DCI Tour returns to the Rose Bowl for this early July showdown.
Central Florida NEW EVENT
TBA
Saturday, July 9
Highlights: The DCI Tour returns to Florida for the first time since 2012 during this event coming to the central part of the state. Also features DrumLine Battle and SoundSport competitions.
Denver, CO
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
Saturday, July 9
Highlights: The Cavaliers join the Blue Knights in their hometown for the first time since 2009 during one of drum corps’ oldest events.
South Florida NEW EVENT
TBA
Monday, July 11
Highlights: The second of three Florida events in 2016 and the furthest south the DCI Tour has come since the 1983 DCI World Championships in Miami.
Lebanon, IL
McKendree University
Monday, July 11
Highlights: Carolina Crown joins this St. Louis-area lineup for the first time since 2013.
North Florida NEW EVENT
TBA
Tuesday, July 12
Highlights: Drum corps get their final chance to perform in Florida during the 2016 DCI Tour at this event in the northeastern part of the state.
Huntsville, AL NEW DATE
Alabama A&M
Friday, July 15
Highlights: Presented by U.S. Army Bands, this event takes place a week earlier on the DCI Tour schedule than in 2015.
TBA, KY NEW DATE
TBA
Saturday, July 16
Highlights: Presented by DeMoulin Bros. & Co., this annual Kentucky event gets as a new date in 2016 as corps make their way back north from Florida.
TBA, MN
TBA
Saturday, July 16
Highlights: The biggest lineup to date on the 2016 DCI Tour features World, Open and All-Age Class corps.
Belton, TX
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Thursday, July 21
Highlights: Presented by Band Shoppe, this “Texas Tour” premiere enters its sophomore year at Crusader Stadium.
Denton, TX
CH Collins Athletic Complex
Thursday, July 21
Highlights: Presented by the Cavaliers for Red River Thunder, along with Belton, this competition helps kick things off in the Lone Stars State.
San Antonio, TX
Alamodome
Saturday, July 23
Highlights: Presented by Fred J. Miller Inc., this will be the first event of 2016 to feature all 22 of DCI’s World Class corps on a single day of competition. Also features DrumLine Battle and SoundSport competitions.
Dallas, TX
Lake Highlands High School
Monday, July 25
Highlights: Drum corps say goodbye to Texas after this concluding event of the 2016 southwestern series.
Little Rock, AR
War Memorial Stadium
Wednesday, July 27
Highlights: Little Rock heats up when a lineup of nine World Class corps march into the capital of Arkansas.
Hattiesburg, MS
The University of Southern Mississippi
Wednesday, July 27
Highlights: The Cadets return to Hattiesburg for the first time since 2010. They’ll look to unseat the Blue Devils who have won this event every year since 2008.
Birmingham, AL NEW EVENT
Mountain Brook High School
Thursday, July 28
Highlights: This brand new 2016 event will serve as an important stopping point before drum corps get to Atlanta.
Atlanta, GA
The Georgia Dome
Saturday, July 30
Highlights: The last time all 22 of DCI’s World Class corps go head-to-head in a single lineup before the DCI World Championships get underway two weeks later. Also features DrumLine Battle and SoundSport events.
Ft. Wayne, IN NEW DATE
University of Saint Francis
Tuesday, August 2
Highlights: Just a week before the Open Class World Championship kicks off in Michigan City, Indiana, a familiar venue takes on an exclusively Open Class lineup.
Pittsburgh, PA NEW DATE
Baldwin High School
Wednesday, August 3
Highlights: Traditionally hosted after the DCI Eastern Classic, this event presented by the Three Rivers Summer Music Games gets a new date and day of the week in 2016.
Allentown, PA
J. Birney Crum Stadium
Friday, August 5 & Saturday, August 6
Highlights: This longstanding two-day event series featuring all 22 of DCI’s World Class corps will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2016.
Tour of Champions Event Series
DeKalb, IL
Northern Illinois University
Sunday, July 17
Highlights: Last year’s gold and silver medal winners, the Blue Devils and Carolina Crown, face off for the first time in 2016 at Huskie Stadium.
Warrensburg, MO
University of Central Missouri
Monday, July 18
Highlights: One of the most popular DCI Tour events west of the Mississippi River returns to Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
Houston, TX
The Berry Center
Friday, July 22
Highlights: Presented by THE exSIGHTment OF SOUND, this annual event takes place on the eve of the DCI Southwestern Championship in San Antonio.
Nashville, TN RETURNING VENUE
Vanderbilt University
Friday, July 29
Highlights: Due to overwhelming response from fans, the Masters of the Summer Music Games presented by Jupiter, Mapex, and Majestic returns to Vanderbilt Stadium, which last played host to this event in 2014.
Winston-Salem, NC
Wake Forest University
Sunday, July 31
Highlights: Carolina Crown gets in front of its hometown crowd during this event coming to Wake Forest University’s BB&T Field.
Chester, PA
PPL Park Stadium
Thursday, August 4
Highlights: Situated on the banks of the Delaware River, this soccer stadium offers one of the most scenic backdrops of the entire DCI Tour.
Buffalo, NY
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Sunday, August 7
Highlights: Site of the 1995 and 2001 DCI World Championships, drum corps will once again march through the home of the Buffalo Bills.
Massillon, OH
Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
Monday, August 8
Highlights: Presented by the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, this event marks the very last regular season competition before the DCI World Championships get underway in Indianapolis.
DCI World Championships
Open Class Prelims
Ames Field, Michigan City, IN
Monday, August 8
Highlights: The Guardians and Louisiana Stars make their DCI World Championship debuts in this kickoff event.
Open Class Finals
Ames Field, Michigan City, IN
Tuesday, August 9
Highlights: The top 12 corps compete for their chance to be named 2016 Open Class World Champion.
DCI Performers Showcase
Georgia Street, Downtown Indianapolis
Wednesday, August 10
Highlights: Presented by System Blue, individuals and ensembles will light up the streets of downtown Indianapolis.
Hall of Fame Kickoff Party
Historic Union Station, Downtown Indianapolis
Wednesday, August 10
Highlights: World Championship festivities get started in Indianapolis during this party that recognizes the newest class of DCI Hall of Fame members.
World Championship Prelims
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Thursday, August 11
Highlights: Competition gets underway at Lucas Oil Stadium for all participating World and Open Class corps. The top 15 corps at this event will be broadcast live in movie theaters across the country.
World Championship Semifinals
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Friday, August 12
Highlights: The 25 advancing corps from the Prelims get their second chance to perform at Lucas Oil Stadium.
World Championship Ceremonies
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Friday, August 12
Highlights: Following Friday night’s Semifinals competition, Drum Corps International recognizes a number of important groups including 2016’s age-out corps members, scholarship award winners, Performers Showcase Champions, the newest class of DCI Hall of Fame members, and DCI’s Volunteers of the Year, all punctuated by a very special performance by Bayonne, New Jersey’s Bridgemen Alumni Corps.
DrumLine Battle & SoundSport
Georgia Street & Pan Am Plaza, Downtown Indianapolis
Saturday, August 13
Highlights: Bigger and better than ever, Drum Corps International’s popular performance divisions take center stage the morning and afternoon of the DCI World Championship Finals.
World Championship Finals
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Saturday, August 13
Highlights: The 2016 Drum Corps International Tour comes to its exciting conclusion when the top 12 corps of the season take their last shot at the DCI Founders Trophy and the DCI World Championship title.
2016 DCI Tour events, dates, locations and details are subject to change.